Life Left to Go
by And The Moment's Gone
Summary: There’s no pain you feel that I know love can’t heal.
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: Life Left to Go  
**Word** **Count**: 4,215  
**Pairings**: Dante Falconari / Leslie Lu Spencer , Johnny Zacchara / Leslie Lu Spencer  
**Rating**: PG-13 for the language.  
**Warnings**/**Spoilers**: Here's where it gets complicated. The carnival happened, Johnny was shot. Carly nearly lost the baby. AU from the point that Claudia knows that Dante is Sonny's son BUT she doesn't know that Dominic is Dante.  
**Summary**: There's no pain you feel that I know love can't heal.

**Official Disclaimer**: All General Hospital characters and plots belong to ABC. I do not hold stock the company. Leslie Lu Spencer, Dante Falconari, and any other character featured are NOT mine. The title comes from SafetySuit's _Life Left to Go. _I don't own that either.

* * *

The sound of gunfire was something familiar to Johnny. Between the way he was raised and his current chosen profession, a hail of bullets and the ever present feel of a piece tucked in his waistband were the price of breathing. Even when he had run from the life he had never forgotten where he had come from. There were at least two registered weapons tucked in drawers at his garage even now. After all, one never knew when they would be needed.

When they shouldn't have been needed though, was at eight o'clock on a Friday night when he was stopping off to pick up some cherry pie to take to his girlfriend's apartment after what was probably an uncharacteristically long day for everyone. He hadn't even planned on running into his ex on her way out after getting a quick caffeine fix on her way to the office for some sort of fashion emergency. But he'd stopped to talk for the sheer fact that for the first time in a long time the smile on her face hadn't been forced.

Then he'd heard the pop.

In all of his years he had never equated the sound of gunfire with the sound of the little Black Cat fireworks that he had played with on the Fourth of July's before his mother's death. But it wasn't until he had seen the blood on the front of what Lulu told him was a brand new turtleneck sweater dress that he realized the sound he had heard was really gunshots. She didn't even seem surprised when she looked down at herself and then back up at him before falling to the cobblestones.

"Lulu?" He asked confused, looking down at the hand that had tried to catch her fall. It came back bloody and he drew his gun before he realized that whoever it was that fired on him was most likely long gone by them. "Somebody call 911!" he shouted as he dropped his gun beside her head. When no one emerged from Kelly's he truly began to panic. "Someone call 911!"

Mike came running out as soon as he got the number out, phone in his hand as he announced to whoever was on the other end of the line that there had been shots fired and someone was injured. He gave them the address, shouted for them to hurry and tossed the phone onto one of the patio tables. "John?" He asked slowly, watching as the mob prince pulled Lulu's jacket away from her chest to assess the damage. "Is she…"

"She's got a pulse, but I'm not sure for how long." He dropped his hands to his jeans and wiped away the blood. "Lu? Can you hear me?" He leaned closer to her and ran his hand through her hair. "Come on Spencer, you're stronger than this."

"You're so gonna owe me." Lulu's lips barely moved and she groaned.

John smiled wryly and ignored the sinking feeling in his gut. He wasn't allowed to be negative, especially not now. "Anything." He promised her. "Anything, as long as you keep talking to me." He was referring to the fact that the longer she stayed conscious before the ambulance got there the better her chances would be, but he wasn't going to clarify himself to her at that particular moment. After all, the girl had just more or less taken a bullet for him. "You know you're brothers are going to kill me."

"Not your fault." She choked out, her chest spasming awkwardly as Mike used his apron to apply pressure to one of the wounds. "Wrong place, wrong time." She coughed again and her eyes began to roll back into her head.

"No!" He ran a hand over the top of her head again, noticing the sounds of the sirens moving closer. "Keep your eyes open, Lu! You have to keep talking."

She scoffed, or as close as she could to it while grimacing. "I thought you breaking up with me meant that you couldn't boss me around anymore."

He smiled, feeling for her pulse again. It was fading, but he held on to the fact that it was still there. "Well that was a bit unrealistic, wasn't it?"

There was someone beside him now, less then gently pushing him out of the way. It took him a full minute to realize that the person was a paramedic and he had been more or less hunched over Lulu's body. On instinct John dropped his jacket over top of his gun and moved to the side so the man could wrap the neck brace and wheel the gurney closer to her.

"White female, early twenties." One of the EMTs was saying into the radio at her shoulder. "GSWs to the chest. I count two."

"Three." John corrected, trying not to notice when mike picked up his jacket, along with the gun and moved out of the way. The older man had no reason to cover for him, but here he was, doing it anyway. "Her name's Lulu Spencer."

Now, John knew protocol. He had been shot more times then he really cared to remember and he had seen more bullet holes then he could probably count. It amazed him slightly that watching them cut away Lulu's jacket and top hit him in the gut harder then he thought it should have. He could feel himself moving to the other side, out of the way, grabbing for her hand and starting to rub what he thought should have been soothing circles into her palm. He didn't even want to think, when he ran the other hand over his face, that the wetness on his forehead was Lulu's blood.

"Someone should ride with her." Mike said shortly, Johnny's jacket and gun suddenly gone. He watched John nod and when the paramedics started to wheel her away; he gave John a slow push. "I can call Sonny from here, tell him what happened."

As if on auto pilot, John followed the paramedics blindly, never once letting go of Lulu's hand. He understood that it made sense. He probably knew more about Lulu's medical history then Mike did, not that the older man seemed to be in too big of a hurry to go to the hospital. After the ambulance was out of sight, Mike turned toward the crowd. "That's the price." He said after a moment, pulling his own cell phone from his pocket. He flipped it open, hitting speed dial two and starting to herd his customers back into the building.

* * *

When Epiphany got the call, the paramedics didn't bother to identify the female they were bringing in. It wasn't standard procedure, after all names didn't matter when saving a life, so she didn't hesitate assigning Elizabeth to Trauma One and calling ahead to make sure that either Matt Hunter or his brother were ready to be scrubbed in for surgery. The door from the loading dock burst open, and she immediately pointed to the area that the team should head in. "Trauma One." She directed, frowning when she noted that John Zacchara was shuffling in with them, holding the blood remains of what looked to be a jacket. She should have known that someone like him was involved.

Turning back to the job at hand, she heard rather then saw Elizabeth take in a deep breath. "Oh God."

But Patrick and Matt were right next to her, the eldest of the two taking her hand off of the girl that was her sister-in-law more days then not and moving her away from the body. "I need a new trauma nurse!" He shouted over the noise and then turned back to Lulu's body even as his brother was pulling her dress further away from her body. "Get me a bag of O neg and a chest tube. What's the status of my OR?"

Elizabeth stood by blankly as they wheeled Lulu out of the ER and in the direction of the Operating Suites, one hand clutched to her chest and her mind reeling. It was Epiphany's hand on her shoulder that startled her back to reality. She whirled on John then, her hands coming together in front of her. "What happened?" She ordered, not bothering to address him directly. When the dark haired man didn't answer fast enough, she hit him in the chest. "What happened?"

"I stopped at Kelly's for pie before going to…." John started slowly, trying to reach the part of his brain that housed memory. He took a deep breath as he reached for the rest of the story. He would have to get it straight in his head now, because heaven help him if it wasn't clear by the time the police got there. "I ran into Lu, she said she wanted coffee before heading into the office…" Elizabeth was following him slowly, and she kept nodding her head as if to urge him to continue. "I laughed at her new dress, and she was sticking her tongue out at me." His head shook and he shuddered. "Then I heard the pop, and she…" In his mind's eye he could see Lulu dropping to the ground in front of him. "How is she?"

"They won't know anything until they get her into the OR." She tried to recall all she knew about gunshot wounds, forcing herself to separate Lulu from the situation. She would be fine if she stuck to facts. "Depending on the position of the bullets they could be in surgery for hours."

"But she'll be okay?" John tried to promise himself, the statement coming out more like a question. The more he thought about it the more he realized that he had been the target. If Lulu hadn't been there it would have been him on that table.

She heard her name right before Jason's arms were around her, whispering platitudes that everything was going to be fine. Samantha stood to the side while Jason did what he needed to do, knowing full well that if the positions were reversed and it was Lucky standing there waiting it would he Jason that had to look on. When Jason released his ex, he turned, giving John a quick once over. It wasn't the first time that the enforcer had felt sorry for the young man. "I was with Sonny when Mike called." He told them, his arm staying around Elizabeth's waist, keeping her up. "He and your sister are on their way. Does Lucky or Nikolas know?"

The question was directed at Elizabeth, but she could barely shake her head in a negative. Sam stepped forward then, pulling her Blackberry from its holster. "I'll call the station, find out where Lucky is."

"I should call Nikolas. Or Ethan." She pulled away from Jason then, patting down her scrubs a second too long before she realized that her cell was in her locker.

"Hey." Jason directed her to the chairs and set her down in one. "Sam can handle it." He said pointedly, not bothering to look up at Johnny. Of all the people in Port Charles, Jason understood too well that this attack may not have necessarily been John's fault, but it didn't mean that he wasn't angry at the man for the fact that it had been Lulu caught in the crossfire. After all, Zacchara had broken up with the blonde for the sheer fact that he didn't want the blonde to be hurt by his business. John shook his head, mumbling and dropped into a chair of his own.

Conversation stopped for a few minutes, Sam still hadn't returned, and it was certainly far too early for them to expect an update on the surgery. Jason sat in one of the chairs facing Liz as Johnny tried to wish himself away. This wasn't how this evening was supposed to end. He was supposed to be lying in bed with his girlfriend right now, not wondering if his ex was going to make it through the night.

"Zacchara." All three turned at the sound of Lucky's voice, and Sam had just been about to tell them that dispatch couldn't find him when he sidled up to the group. "I need to ask you a few questions about tonight."

The first thought that ran through Johnny's head was the fact that Lucky didn't know. If he had gotten the call from the dispatcher the only thing that he would have been told was that a girl had been shot. John didn't remember anyone during the ambulance ride ever saying Lulu's name over the radio. If Detective Spencer wasn't happy that he had to question him for this, he was just glad that when the older man discovered who was in the operating room, he was at least going to get the crap beat out of him in a hospital. When he found his voice, he swallowed. "Lucky I – "

"I'm asking **you** the questions John, a girl was injured." Lucky interrupted, sparing a brief moment to look to his fiancé. Liz was wiping tears from the corner of her eyes and while he was confused, he couldn't let that distract him from the job he was sent to perform.

Liz was on her feet in an instant. "She's going to be all right." She said quickly, moving across the room. "Matt's the attending, and she's going to be fine."

Now he was even more confused. "What are you – "

It was Ethan that finally clued his brother in as he and Rebecca ran through the emergency room from the elevators. "How's Lulu?" He demanded from his brother, then turning to Liz. "Epiphany said she was shot."

His head reeled and Luck y had to force himself to stay on his feet. It was Lulu. The girl that had been shot at Kelly's had been his sister. Even after breaking her heart in a valiant attempt to keep her safe, John Zacchara still managed to get his sister shot. "No." He said solidly after a minute, not feeling his fiancé wrap her arms around him. "You were told wrong."

But Liz had already turned. "Nothing yet from the OR, but the second Patrick knows something I'm sure he'll tell us." Her hands never left Lucky's. "It's too soon to tell." She moved him to a chair and let herself concentrate on someone else's feelings. If she was hurting at the thought that Lulu was in one of the operating suites she could only imagine what it was doing to Lucky. "But she's strong, and she's a fighter, and she's pulled through worse."

"She's never been shot before!" Ethan shouted. He was becoming angrier by the second at the fact that Lucky couldn't seem to be. He may be new to the family, but it hadn't taken long for him to come to the conclusion that without his little sister the rest of them wouldn't last long. He didn't even want to think about the fact that if she didn't make it someone would have to track down and tell their father. "A bullet isn't a building collapsing or some disease. There may be damage that Matt doesn't catch; this could cause her problems even if she makes it through surgery!"

"And you're not helping." Rebecca ran a hand over his chest. He had been with her through the whole Edward debacle; she only hoped that she would be able to provide the same comfort. "Both Matt and Patrick are in the operating room and they are the best. Lulu is going to be fine." She set Ethan down in a chair and then turned to the ones who were there before them. "Does Nikolas know?"

Sam shook her head. "I called both his cell and Wyndemere and Alfred said he's in a meeting with investors. I told him to have Nikolas here as soon as he could."

"And Dad's on another one of his walk-abouts." Lucky took a deep breath. As long as he was focused on details he could forget about the fact that his sister was upstairs getting three bullets dug out of her. Then it hit him. "Mom." He started rise. "Oh God, Mom. Lulu's her baby."

"I'll call Laura." Liz pushed Lucky back into the seat. "And then I'll call Gram and make sure she can keep the boys for the night." She kissed him on the top of his head. "You just need to sit here and breathe." She slid Lucky's phone out of the clip at his hip and then disappeared through the automatic doors.

Sonny slid through the door before they could close again, his wife practically running across the room to wrap her arms around her brother. "What happened?" He asked Jason quickly, completely ignoring Ethan's angry glare and Claudia's clucking.

Stepping away from his sister, Johnny found his voice. "I was stopping by Kelly's for a piece of pie before I went home. Lulu was there. We were talking on the patio, and then there were shots."

"How many?"

"I counted four." He did a mental run through the incident in his head and nodded. He would have to recount the story for the police later anyway. Thankfully he was shot at or else he would probably have been drug to lock up before they had a chance to tell Lucky that it was Lulu upstairs. "Maybe five." He shook his head. "Lu took three."

"If my sister dies…" Lucky said slowly through his teeth. He still hadn't looked up. "**You** killed her."

Claudia stepped closer to her brother, putting herself between John and Lucky. "John didn't **shoot** at himself." She practically growled.

"Enough." Sonny's eyes caught his wife's and Claudia's next words caught in her throat. He looked to Jason and then eyed Lucky, trying to figure out what could and couldn't be said around the cop. "Was anyone else hit?" He asked as he pointed to his brother-in-law's blood stained clothes.

"She fell into me." He said stiffly.

Again Sonny looked to Lucky, who was now staring at the mural on the wall across from them. "Where's your gun?"

It took John a minute to remember that Mike had taken it. "Still at Kelly's." He said softly, stepping closer to try to not be overheard by the officer. "I drew but didn't fire."

Sonny nodded, making a note to send someone over to pick it up from Mike. "Claudia's going to take you and get you cleaned up. I'm sure the cops are going to want your clothes for evidence." John opened his mouth to tell Sonny that he could take care of himself and that Claudia didn't need to be told to baby him, but Sonny just shook his head. He was calling the shots tonight and that was just the way it was going to be. And innocent girl was shot on his watch and they were going to be this his way.

"Ronnie's got some clothes in the car." Claudia tugged her brother's arm and pulled him to the double doors. She would take him to get air and then they would go in through the hospitals main entrance where she would beg or bribe one of the women at the visitor's desk to allow them to use a room so he could wash up.

Without speaking to his boss, Jason nodded and pulled his phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. "I'll call Bernie." He said after a second. "Get a few guys over to Kelly's to check it out."

He nodded even as he heard the voice of his ex-wife shout across the room. "I want men over here too." He decided, not elaborating any more than that. There was no telling what Lucky would and wouldn't remember for the night.

"What the hell happened?" Carly shouted again, pulling Lucky into her arms before turning on her ex. When Sonny didn't answer her fast enough she stood, releasing her cousin and crossing her arms against her chest. "What happened to Lulu, Sonny?"

"You need to calm down." Sonny started, motioning his ex-wife to a seat. Jax was nowhere to be seen, so it made him wonder how Carly had heard the news and how she had gotten to the hospital. "This can't be good for the baby."

Dropping into a chair, Carly's look didn't waver. "What happened to Lulu?"

"There was a shooting at Kelly's." He said slowly, wishing that Jax had been there with her. While he knew the tricks to keep Carly from going into a full blown hissy fit, her current husband was decidedly better at it. "Johnny was there. He ran into Lulu. We're not sure who the target was."

"How bad is it?"

"She's in surgery." Jason hung up his phone and nodded at Sonny. "Bernie's sending two men to Kelly's. Milo's headed here now." He sat down next to his best friend and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Where's your husband?"

Carly sighed, resting her head on Jason's shoulder. She wasn't through with Sonny, not by a long shot, but it felt good to have Jason there. "Probably on his way." She said after a second. "I was supposed to meet him at Kelly's for a late dinner and Mike told me Lulu was here."

He didn't get the chance to say anything else, Epiphany moved closer to the group, clipboard in her hand and a sad smile on her face. "A room full of next of kin and I didn't even have to make one phone call." Only Rebecca smiled at the head nurses attempt to joke and when she realized that it didn't go over like she meant it to, she frowned. "We may have rushed her into surgery, but I still need a consent form signed for this procedure."

Carly reached for it when no one else did and then smiled at the nurse. "How close are you requiring the next of kin?" She asked cynically.

Epiphany nodded. "I'd prefer one of her brother's but I'm willing to take anyone who shares blood." She said after a moment. Then again with two thirds of the Port Charles crime syndicate sitting in her emergency room waiting area she would prefer they all clear out, but she was willing to take what she could get. Tonight was not a night for her to get picky, especially when Lulu's step-family and her oldest brother had yet to make an appearance.

With a quick flick of the wrist, Carly signed the form and handed it back to the nurse. "Which OR was she taken into?" The blonde asked softly.

"Three." Epiphany pointed to the elevator. "There's a waiting room up there if you guys would prefer."

Jason nodded and Epiphany headed back to the desk. "You should go find Claudia and John and then go home." He told Sonny slowly, releasing his best friend to stand and move closer to his boss. "The less exposure the three of you have until we can get this figured out the better."

He didn't agree, but he had learned over the years to trust Jason's judgment. That and it would probably be easier to get Johnny home if he and Claudia were with him. "I want Spinelli working on the cameras in the area." He said after a moment, running his hand over his chin. "There aren't any around Kelly's but maybe he can catch something on one of the cameras on the docks."

Again Jason nodded. He and his boss shared a look and then Sonny turned to leave. He paused for a second when Liz came back into the room. "Laura's headed to the airport now. She's on the next available flight out." She told her fiancé and Ethan, handing Lucky back his phone. "She said there's some kind of festival in town so she may have to wait until the morning."

"Call Bernie back, have him send the jet." Sonny decided quickly, watching as both Jason and Carly pulled out their phones.

"The Jacks jet is in London." She told the room quickly. "It's most likely closer." She gave a few terse orders to the person unlucky enough to be on the other end of the line and then hung up without even a goodbye. "Someone'll find her at the airport." She said quickly. Being married to a powerful man did have its benefits. Even if he would be incredibly angry when he found out where she was and the fact that she didn't call him.

"Okay." Jason slid his phone back into his pocket and pointed at Sonny. "You're leaving," Sonny gave him a nod and turned toward the door again, knowing without question that the second there was news either Jason or Sam would be on the phone with him. Jason looked to Liz now, who had positioned herself behind Lucky. "And I think Epiphany would feel better if we relocate." He turned to survey the room when he noticed that Ethan and Rebecca had already stepped into an elevator and Sam was missing. He watched Liz pull Lucky to his feet and then turned to Carly.

It was going to be a very long night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title**: Life Left to Go  
**Word** **Count**: 5,020  
**Pairings**: Dante Falconeri / Leslie Lu Spencer , Johnny Zacchara / Leslie Lu Spencer  
**Rating**: PG-13 for the language.  
**Warnings**/**Spoilers**: Here's where it gets complicated. The carnival happened, Johnny was shot. Carly nearly lost the baby. AU from the point that Claudia knows that Dante is Sonny's son BUT she doesn't know that Dominic is Dante.  
**Summary**: There's no pain you feel that I know love can't heal.

**Official Disclaimer**: All General Hospital characters and plots belong to ABC. I do not hold stock the company. Leslie Lu Spencer, Dante Falconeri, and any other character featured are NOT mine. The title comes from SafetySuit's _Life Left to Go. _I don't own that either.

* * *

Ethan hated hospitals. The first time he had even been in one had been after his parent's accident. After that fateful day they only served to remind him of how close ones mortality was or a con gone wrong. Until he had settled in Port Charles he had avoided the cold sterile buildings like the plague whenever possible. He shook his head and took another sip of the coffee that Rebecca had brought him. In order to keep their sanity, she and Sam had taken turns running down the street to the coffee shop on Third to keep the group stocked in coffee and an assortment of pastries that no one seemed to want to eat. So far Lulu had been in surgery for seven hours and no one had come out to update them yet.

They had officially taken over the waiting room hours ago, Lucky being the first to stake his claim as he dropped onto the chair closest to the door, Elizabeth at his side. Jason and Sam had taken the back corner, the former alternating between barking orders on the phone to whichever lackey was calling to say that they had yet to find something, and sitting stoically and staring at the ceiling. Beside him Milo had taken to playing Pac Man on his cell phone, propping his feet up in the chair across from him. Jax had shown up ten minutes after they had moved up the stairs, and when Carly had stubbornly refused to go home and wait for the news about what was probably her favorite cousin, he had successfully bribed an orderly into bringing one of the loungers from the maternity ward into the small room for her. She wasn't happy about the fact that he had physically stopped her from pacing, but she wasn't being forced home, so she would take what she could get. Maxie and Spinelli had joined the group sometime in the last five hours, the blonde fashionista moving heaven and Earth to cover what Lulu was heading to the office to finish and the latter using the hospital's Wi-Fi service to hack into the City of Port Charles security mainframe to go through the camera footage. It was something that he could have done at the penthouse, but after no word on Lulu, he and his non-wife had decided that they would feel better if they were waiting with everyone else.

Nikolas still hadn't shown up yet, which prompted Lucky to be even more sullen. Their little sister could be dying and he couldn't afford to answer a 911 text? Then again Tracy hadn't arrived either. Ethan and Rebecca had decided early on that Quartermaine involvement until they had any real news would only serve to turn this whole disaster into a circus. They were planning on calling his step-mother as soon as Lulu was out of surgery. And no one could get a hold of Luke. The Spencer patriarch having left his cell phone on top of his desk at the Haunted Star.

When he stepped out of the operating suite, Patrick knew what kind of group would be waiting on him. He had had the personal experience of watching this particular group of people rallying for someone's life before, and while he didn't envy the position that they were in, he was glad that his patient had such a loyal group there for her. Carly was the first on her feet, before he had even made it through the door, and the rest seemed to follow. The silence in the room was suddenly deafening as he glanced over her chart. He wanted to make sure that he gave them all of the information that they needed.

"She made it out of surgery." Patrick said slowly, watching the faces of the collective Spencer family all sigh in relief. "She's not out of the woods yet." He made sure to say quickly. "We had to perform a thoracotomy in order to collect all three bullet fragments, which means that recovery could take a long time and it's not without risks. She was exceptionally lucky none of the bullets did any extreme damage to vital organs. We did have to re-inflate her right lung, though, which we'll have to keep an eye on.

"We've started her on antibiotics and we still haven't taken her off of the ventilator." He was talking more to Elizabeth and Rebecca, knowing that once he was able to leave it would be up to them to explain exactly what was going on. "We're moving her to an ICU single for a few days, and until we can rule out hypoxia and respiratory failure we're going to keep her in a medically induced coma." Lucky's eyes closed at the word 'coma' and Patrick placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "Her body will start to heal faster that way, and we can ensure that external movements don't cause internal problems."

Elizabeth's arm went around her fiancé and she forced a smile in Patrick's direction. "How long will you keep her **sedated**?" She asked quickly, trying to convey to the doctor that continued use of the term 'coma' may be detrimental to everyone.

"If her body responds to the antibiotics and we're sure the repaired lung won't collapse again, we should be able to remove the tube as early as the day after tomorrow and begin the process to wake her up in as little as four days." Patrick looked up from the chart again and reminded himself that for the next week Lulu was a patient, not a friend. In order for her to get better he needed to do his job, not worry about feelings. He just couldn't help but to think that it could have easily have been his wife's cousin that was on the operating table tonight. All he really wanted to do now was go change his clothes, check on Lulu one more time and go home to hug his wife and daughter. "They're moving her into her room now." He said at last. "I'm not going to have Epiphany impose the one visitor at a time rule; because I know you guys wouldn't follow it anyway, but keep the excitement to a minimum. When she wakes up Lulu is going to need peace and stability." He touched Liz's shoulder one last time before dropping the hand holding the medical chart to his side. "Call me if you need anything."

"Thanks Patrick." Elizabeth steered Lucky back to the chairs and then turned to the rest of the group. She paused then, not entirely sure what to say next.

Thankfully, Sam spoke up for her. "I'm going to go call Sonny." She said after a second, pulling her Blackberry from its holster. She kissed Jason on the cheek and patted Lucky's shoulder on her way out of the room.

For the first time since she had heard the news, Carly felt like she could breathe. "We're going home." Jax said to her quickly, before she could get the idea in her head that she would be one of those keeping vigil at Lulu's bedside. When she opened her mouth to protest he gave her a stern look. "I'll bring you back up here in the morning after you've gotten at least eight hours of sleep and had more to eat then cheese Danish."

She didn't argue, knowing that Jason would only get involved if she did. Instead she turned to her cousin. "She's going to make it." She whispered to Lucky as she wrapped him in another hug. "I'll be back first thing tomorrow." She promised. "Call me if you need anything."

Lucky nodded, returning the hug and trying his hardest not to cry. His sister had been shot. His sister made it out of surgery. "I will." He said once he realized that she was looking for some kind of confirmation that she had been heard, and after another round of hugs, Carly and Jax had made it out of the room.

Spinelli and Maxie were the next to leave. Jason had ordered them home to the penthouse to get some sleep and Maxie promised to come back in the morning with a few nightgowns for Lulu to wear. Non-hospital regulation gowns weren't important in the grand scheme of things, but Maxie needed to feel like she was doing something more than making sure that Lulu's job was covered. She made a mental note to call No Name in the morning and have them put together lunch for the people that were undoubtedly staying at the hospital.

"Someone should call Tracy." Ethan said at last, dropping down into the chair directly across from his half-brother. He wasn't looking forward to that conversation, even though he was sure he was going to be the one to have to have it.

"I'll call the house." Rebecca said after watching the brother's have a silent argument. She checked her watch and sighed. It wasn't a conversation that she wanted to be having at three in the morning, but she felt rather helpless just standing around. When Lucky opened his mouth to say something else, she nodded. "Then I'll try Nikolas again." She promised, running a hand over the top of Ethan's head before heading out.

Although she wasn't quite sure when Jason had left the room, Liz was more than a little grateful. Lucky had been shooting the enforcer visual daggers ever since he had managed to pull himself out of the functional coma that he had slid into when he was told where his sister was. Milo remained though, standing unobtrusively off to the side. He had been left there on purpose, to act as a go between with the mob family without them actually being there, and Liz couldn't help but smile at the man. While Lulu had shot him down romantically, Milo had remained a very good friend to her sister-in-law.

A nurse came shortly, to take them to Lulu's ICU room and Lucky followed her without a second thought as Liz watched Ethan check his phone again for some sign that their father had gotten any of the messages that he had left around the world. With a shake of the head and a sigh, Ethan shoved his phone back in his pocket and stood, following her from the room.

"Laura." Liz said quickly, turning to Luke's middle child. "We didn't arrange a ride from the airport." She smacked herself on the forehead and then turned in the direction that Lucky had gone with the nurse. "Lucky – "

He smiled then, watching Liz try to shoulder all of Lucky's responsibility to the family on her own. "I'll go." Ethan decided before he could stop himself. "Lucky's not going to tear himself from her bedside until he has to, and you should be here for him."

"Lulu's your sister too." She said sympathetically. Despite what Lucky may have said about his half-brother, Ethan had tried his best to build a relationship with their sister.

"I need to be doing something." He said after a second. And although he wouldn't admit it to Elizabeth, he was more than interested in meeting the woman that had managed to tame the illustrious Luke Spencer for a time.

Elizabeth smiled, running her hand up Ethan's arm. "You're a good big brother too." She said after a second, before pulling Ethan into a hug and turning to head in the direction that Lucky had gone in.

He made sure to leave through the main entrance, kissing Rebecca on the cheek and letting her know where he was heading as he lightly frisked her for the keys to the SUV that the Quartermaines were letting her use. He held them up to show her that he had them and then turned toward the parking garage.

* * *

Ever since she had been aware enough to process the fact that her youngest son was a police officer for the Port Charles Police Department, Laura Webber Spencer had been terrified of the day the phone would ring and tell her that he had been shot in the line of duty. It had happened before, while she was still comatose and she knew it would be a matter of time before it would happen again. When the phone woke her up at three am she had held her breath as Elizabeth explained that there had been a shooting. Her first thought, and subsequently first question had been whether or not Lucky was all right. When her sometimes daughter-in-law had calmly explained that Lucky wasn't the child she was calling about, Laura's blood ran cold.

She hadn't thought twice before telling Liz that she was on the first flight out, taking a tiny bit of comfort in the fact that the second he had been awake enough to realize the crisis, Scott had already started throwing jeans and sweaters into a carryon for her, and then pulled her passport from the nightstand. He had asked as soon as she got off the phone if she had wanted him to come with her, not taking offense when she explained that the situation was probably volatile enough without adding him to the mix. Upon arriving at the airport, she had been pleasantly confused to find at the information desk that the Jacks corporate jet was waiting for her on one of the private airstrips. Her confusion turned to surprise when the flight attendant told her that it was Mrs. Jacks that had demanded the flight and that if there was anything she needed to let them know.

Unfortunately, private jet or not, she still had to go through customs, and once she had cleared the gate she stopped, hand going to her cell phone so she could call her son to find out whether or not she needed to take a cab. She had had the phone flipped open, eyes scanning the numbers when something compelled her to look up.

Directly in front of her, wearing a plain black tee and a pair of baggy jeans with a dark blue flannel shirt over top of it and a leather jacket over top of that was a face that she would have sworn that she hadn't seen in years. He ran a hand through his shaggy dark hair while the other held up a makeshift sign that looked like it had once been a cocktail napkin. She chuckled slightly when she read the name, all bold black letters, no last name: **LAURA**.

Now Ethan had to admit that he had never seen a picture of his father's ex-wife. It wasn't that he hadn't been given the opportunity, Lulu had inherited plenty of photo albums and she had tried on multiple occasions pull them out to show him the man their father had been. He had been scanning the crowd slowly for the last ten minutes, trying to decide which elegant blonde had once and possibly still held his father's heart when he noticed her.

She was almost the exact same height as Lesley Lu, and he now understood why Luke had spent so many drunken nights telling him about his inability to look at the young girl once Laura had had her breakdown. Lulu had her mother's face, complete with the high cheekbones and the curve of her chin. Lucky had Laura's eyes though, and once Ethan noticed that he had her attention he balled up the napkin that he had found in Rebecca's glove box to create the sign and shoved it in his pocket. "Laura?" He asked slowly, drawing the name out as if he had never heard it uttered before.

There was a moment when Laura reminded herself of what her daughter had said about Luke's charming second born. After the DNA tests had confirmed that Ethan was truly one of the Spencer clan, Lulu had literally spent hours on the phone with her mother trying to make sense of it all. Laura had been shocked at first, and then angry before a wayward comment had reminded her that this must have been the way Luke had felt all those years ago when Nikolas was suddenly brought to town to help an ailing Lulu. The only difference was that Laura had had full knowledge of her oldest son. Luke hadn't known Ethan existed until he had come to Port Charles. "Ethan." She said after a moment, cinching her carryon and purse further up her shoulder before extending a hand.

He clasped her hand, turning it flat before pulling it to his lips. "At least now I know what the fuss is about." He smirked.

She allowed him to relieve her of her carryon, pulling it over his shoulder so the strap cut across his chest. "How's Lulu?" She asked tentively. If Ethan was in the mood to try to be suave, then hopefully something had gone right.

"Out of surgery." He said at first, holding his arm out so she could grab hold as to not lose each other in the crowd. Leading her around the lost travelers, Ethan had to slow his step so she could keep up. "One of the bullets collapsed a lung so Dr. Drake said that they were going to do something or another until they were sure that what they did to repair the damage will hold." Laura nodded beside him and he laughed. "The medical jumbo confused me so you're probably better off asking Elizabeth or Lucky."

"He won't tell you, but I think Lucky is just as lost as you are with it." Laura couldn't help but laugh when she realized that he was leading her to the SUV that was double parked in the fire lane right outside the double doors. He opened the door for her and set her bag in the back seat. "Are we headed to the hospital?" She asked once he hopped into his side.

"Unless you want me to take you to the house." Of all of the ways for his first meeting with Laura Spencer to go, Ethan was shocked to admit that the reality was nowhere near the fantasy.

The choice had been made long before Laura had gotten onto the jet. "I want to see my daughter." She said softly, watching Ethan shove the key into the ignition and bringing the engine to life. He didn't respond as he navigated out of the motor pool.

They rode for fifteen minutes without the radio on before Ethan spared another glance at the woman. "Ask it." He said after a moment. He didn't offer her an explanation, and amazingly enough, Laura didn't need one.

Even with this Aussie lilt, Laura couldn't deny that he was Luke's child. "Where's your father?" She turned in the seat to face him.

"Around." He let out slowly. When Laura cocked an eyebrow, he forced out a sigh. "Lucky called it a 'walk about.'" He reiterated. "Apparently finding his long lost son sent him running."

That's when Laura noticed the difference. Luke had spent many of the first years of his life schooling his attitude to not let things like disappointment and heartache show. He had once joked with her that it was essential to every con to be able to control your emotions. She had blamed that trait for the fact that he had so easily let her go all those years ago. As she studied Ethan's face, she realized that he may have managed to follow in a lot of his father's footsteps unwittingly, but that was one trait that wasn't genetic. "It's not you." She promised him carefully, daring to pull one hand from her lap and setting it on top of his one the gear shift. "Luke doesn't stay in one place for very long. He's not made that way." When Ethan shook his head, Laura nodded. "You'll learn." She decided, patting his hand again. "And he'll come back. He always does."

* * *

  
He hadn't been allowed in the room while they were getting his sister situated. He tried not to let it bother him that it had taken three nurses almost an hour to un-hooked and re-hooked to the various machines that Patrick had insisted were more or less a precaution. She had monitors and electrodes connected to almost all visible patches of skin and her IV had three leads running from various bags to her left. The nurse laid Lulu's arm down and corrected the leads. She double checked the ventilator tube and reset the blood pressure cuff so it checked her vitals once every fifteen minutes.

When the barrage of staff left the room he pulled the solitary chair closer to the bed and dropped himself in it. He didn't trust himself to touch her hand, not wanting to hurt her even in the slightest. He couldn't help but be reminded of many years ago when she was curled up in a different kind of ICU bed, holding on to her life with both of her weak hands. Leaning back in his chair, he shook his head, willing himself to just hold it together long enough for her to get well. He could scream and shout and beat the hell out of every mobster that has gotten near Lulu in the last twenty-two years but he needed to wait until Lulu was better. Everything could wait until Lulu was better.

The door behind him opened slowly, he heard the shuffle before he turned, and he was out of the chair and in his mother's arms before his next breath. He paid no attention to the two people in the hall behind her and just allowed himself a moment of being the mama's boy he was never allowed to b e.

"If you wanted me to visit, you could have just asked nicely." She whispered into his neck, willing the tears in her eyes into remission. Her son chuckled stiffly around her and she ran a hand over the back of his head. "I'm here now." She promised him as he started to release her. "It's going to be all right."

"I'm sorry." Lucky moved away from her slowly, allowing her to catch her first glimpse of her daughter. Instinctively her hand came up to her mouth and she couldn't stop the gasp.

Elizabeth had stopped her on her way to the room to warn her about what she was going to face, but standing three feet away from her daughter as she was unconsciously fighting for her life was a completely different matter. She moved away from Lucky slowly, walking up towards the head of the bed. She gently brushed aside a stray hair that had fallen out of the cap that they had put on her head and then she cupped her daughter's cheek. "Lesley Lu."

"I know Patrick said he wasn't going to enforce certain rules," a voice said from behind her. "But sooner or later you guys are going to have to leave the hospital to sleep."

Laura turned slowly, trying to tear her eyes away from her daughter's face and looked at the dark haired gentleman in the scrubs and lab coat. She couldn't be certain that this had been one of the surgeons, but considering the fact that his scrubs had what looked to be drying blood on them she was going to make that guess. "How is she?"

He looked from Lucky to Elizabeth and then back to Laura. "I need to discuss that with Lulu's family." He said slowly.

"Dr. Hunter, meet my mom, Laura Spencer." Lucky motioned between the two of them. "Mom this is Matt, he's Lulu's doctor."

"And sometimes carnival date." Matt extended a hand and when Laura didn't shake it he sighed. "Nurse Phelps told me that Lulu got tucked in all right, I was just checking on her before I head home." When Laura's face paled he shook his head. "Dr. Long has been briefed on Lulu's condition, and he will be able to hold down the fort until I get back here in," he checked his watch, "eight hours."

"How is she now?" Laura asked again.

If it were any other family, Matt probably would have brushed them off and had a nurse page Dr. Long on his way out the door. But he cast a quick glance to the girl on the bed and smiled. "One of the bullets pierced her right lung. We had to intubate her and reinflate the lung before we could go after the other two bullets. She had a cracked rib and the third bullet seemed to get stuck in her breast. That wound was more or less superficial." Laura nodded, trying to file all of this information away for a time when she could grill Bobbie. All in all Matt was doing an excellent job of dummying down the medical terminology.

"Why do you still have her on the ventilator?" She asked carefully.

"We patched the hole in the lung before we reinflated, but with all gunshot wounds where the lungs are involved, we're worried about the O2 levels. We want to make sure the lung is strong enough to sustain the pressure before we let her go on her own." He spared a sad smile to the girl in the bed and then looked back at Lucky and his mother. "We've started her on a panel of antibiotics to help fight the infection and risk of hypoxia. Her hematocrit level was also on the low side of the scale so we're doing another blood panel, and we may transfuse her again." There was another nod and he watched as Laura turned around again, effectively ending the conversation and ignoring him all at the same time. "I'm back around one," he told Lucky. "And both Patrick and I have left instructions that we're to be paged it anything changes."

Lucky shook hands with the doctor and pulled the door open wider. "Thanks man." He said slowly.

"Try to have a good night." Matt made sure to shake hands with Ethan on his way down the hall.

Ethan moved into the room slowly then, leaning against the wall. "Hunter was right though." He said cautiously, looking from his sister to brother and finally to Laura. "This room isn't big enough for all of us." He watched as Lucky sank into the long chair and shook his head. "Some of us are going to have to sleep eventually."

"I'm staying here until Lu wakes up." Lucky started indignantly. He had failed his sister in the past, but he would be damned before he left her alone.

Laura watched her sons face cloud over and then turned to Elizabeth. "You and Elizabeth should go home and get some sleep." She said quickly, watching her son rise again and prepare to state his case. "Your sister isn't going to be waking up any time soon and you've been up for almost twenty four hours by now. I'm here, and I'm not leaving this room until you've had some sleep."

He wanted to fight his mother. He wanted to yell and scream and pound his fists on his chest in a masculine attempt to assert himself. He wanted to make her understand that ever since she had gotten sick Lulu had been his and Nikolas's responsibility. But the look in her eyes was one that not even his father would have been able to win over, and he frowned in defeat when Elizabeth wrapped her arm around his middle.

"Six hours." He promised her, leaning down to brush a kiss over his sister's forehead and then pulling his mother into another hug. "I'll be back in six hours."

"Sleep for at least five." Laura ordered gently, kissing his cheek. "I love you."

Lucky nodded and then allowed himself to be drug from the room.

When the door shut, Laura dropped herself onto the seat, letting her purse finally hit the floor before looking up at Ethan. "How long do you think I have before Tracy shows up?"

He laughed; an unnervingly familiar sound. "Rebecca said Tracy didn't answer, but Dr. Quartermaine said she would tell her when she woke up." He checked his watch and laughed again. "About two hours. Three tops."

"Would now be a good time to tell you that I don't particularly care for your father's wife?" She asked offhandedly, not taking her eyes away from her daughter. She had missed too many years of that little girl's life for the rest of it to be wasted now.

"Not many people do." Ethan concluded. He watched Laura yawn and then nodded to himself. "Can I get you anything?" He asked before he could stop himself. Unlike his brother or his brother's wife he wasn't built to keep vigil at someone's bedside. Not that he was too keen on leaving Laura alone for extended periods of time; he just needed to be doing **something**.

Laura nodded, recognizing the restlessness in the man's voice rather than his appearance. When Lulu had been hospitalized after birth, Luke hadn't been able to sit by and watch her breathe either. "A decent cup of coffee." She decided after a second. "And possibly a muffin."

Ethan double checked his pants for his wallet and smiled. "Coming right up." He placed a quick hand on the bed where he hoped one of his sister's feet was and then he was gone, shutting the door fully behind him.

There was about three minutes of silence. One hundred and eighty seconds where all Laura did was count her daughter's breaths. Then the door opened again, and she almost laughed. "I don't think the cafeteria has coffee I'd call **decent**." She joked carefully.

There was a cough, and her head whipped around at the sound. "I wasn't told to bring coffee." The young man in front of her said quickly. His eyes cut to the bed and then back to her and he tried his hardest to smile. He had seen Lucky and Elizabeth leave when he had pulled up and Milo had told him Ethan was running downstairs for a minute. With no one in the room he thought it would have been the perfect time to visit. "Although if you tell me what kind you like I won't make that mistake again, Mrs…"

"Spencer." Laura filled in the gap. "Laura Spencer."

"Lulu's mom." He said almost knowingly, holding his hand out to shake. "Dominic Pirelli."

* * *

I love Reviews. They let me know I'm on the right track. If you read please Review.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title**: Life Left to Go  
**Word** **Count**: 3,317  
**Pairings**: Dante Falconeri / Leslie Lu Spencer , Johnny Zacchara / Leslie Lu Spencer  
**Rating**: PG-13 for the language.  
**Warnings**/**Spoilers**: Here's where it gets complicated. The carnival happened, Johnny was shot. Carly nearly lost the baby. AU from the point that Claudia knows that Dante is Sonny's son BUT she doesn't know that Dominic is Dante.  
**Summary**: There's no pain you feel that I know love can't heal.

**Official Disclaimer**: All General Hospital characters and plots belong to ABC. I do not hold stock the company. Leslie Lu Spencer, Dante Falconeri, and any other character featured are NOT mine. The title comes from SafetySuit's _Life Left to Go. _I don't own that either.

* * *

Laura Spencer had had dozens upon dozens of conversations with her youngest child over the course of the last year. They had spoken about love and sex and romance, Maxie and Spinelli's almost not wedding, and her child's devastating break up with John Zacchara. Lulu had called her every morning for a week to discuss Ethan and his new place in their lives when the DNA test came back and then Rebecca Shaw and how Nikolas seemed to be besotted with her. But never in those phone calls had she ever mentioned the young man who was now standing in front of her. She didn't want to think why not.

"I'm sorry if I'm intruding." He said quickly, running a hand over his chin and trying his hardest not to look at the bed. "I saw Ethan duck out and I thought I could get a minute with her before he came back to kick me out." Over the last few weeks he had learned that honesty was always the best policy with Lulu and he was going to make it a point to be as honest as he could with her mother as well. Well, as honest as he could for an undercover detective anyway. He watched Laura watch him and shrunk back a little. "I could always come back later."

She didn't have to ask why Ethan didn't like him. The way he was standing there in his khaki's and button down meant that he was either one the far right of the law, or Sonny's side. He didn't even seem fazed that he was sneaking around the hospital at four in the morning, which prompted her to think that his was a less then admirable profession. But the look he kept sparing to her daughter's bed did make her wonder. "Misery loves company." She said at last, dropping back into the chair and waving her hand toward the bed. "She's not going to wake up any time soon, so I don't see what harm a visit would do."

Dante allowed his eyes to fully take in Lulu's appearance then, from the sheer whiteness of her skin to the tube running from the corner of her lips. He had been to Johnny's hospital room less than two days after the guy had taken a bullet for Spinelli, and even he didn't look that bad. Hell, from the look of it Zacchara had gotten off easy. "Do they know who did this?" He asked the room softly, running a hand down the arm that wasn't covered in tubes from her IV.

"Not yet." Laura answered. "But from what I've been told by her brother both the PCPD and Jason Morgan are looking into it."

"Violence begets violence." Dante whispered, leaning down to run his fingers down her cheek. Although they had gotten closer in the last few weeks, once Lulu woke up he knew for a fact that he wouldn't be able to get this close to her. He reveled in it while he could. "I'm hoping the PCPD catches this guy before Jason does." He admitted, louder this time.

"A mobster rooting for the police," Laura allowed herself to smile wryly at the thought. "Something I haven't seen in a while."

He laughed, turning away from Lulu at last to finally study her mother. They would have been identical, standing next to each other, with the same color hair and sardonic smiles. If he were to guess he would say that Laura had more practice with the joyful turn of the lips then her daughter did. Lulu's eyes were her grandmother's though, something he had picked up from the tail end of a conversation with Maxie that he was sure that he wasn't supposed to overhear. He nodded to himself. "Lulu talks about you a lot." He said without thinking, watching Laura's eyes widen.

"That's funny." She countered, crossing her arms against her chest and throwing him the same look Lulu always did when she was skeptical. "She hasn't mentioned you once."

His hand came up to his chest and he winced. "That hurts." He laughed. "It really does. And here I thought that she was warming up to me."

"Lulu doesn't need to warm up to you." Ethan said from the doorway, a drink holder in one hand with two lattes balanced precariously and a paper bag in his other hand. "What she **needs** is for you to leave."

"That's my cue." Dante smiled back at Laura before turning and running his fingers over Lulu's arm again. He could hear Ethan huffing from behind him, and he took his time, memorizing the look on her face and sending up a quick prayer that she would be back to being annoyed by him soon enough. He threw a glance over his shoulder, smiling at Ethan before holding his hand out for Laura a second time. "It was nice to meet you Mrs. Spencer."

Laura knew she shouldn't be encouraging him. If Ethan couldn't stand him, she was willing to bet that her sons couldn't either and the last thing she wanted to do was start an argument that none of them would win. "You too, Dominic." She said at last, watching him shove his hands in his pockets and slide out the door, pulling it closed behind him.

* * *

They had acquired another chair sometime in the passing of the next three hours. She wasn't sure where it had come from, and quite frankly, she didn't want to ask Ethan how it had gotten to Lulu's room, but when she had gotten back from one of her bathroom breaks, Ethan was sitting with his feet propped up on the edge of the bed. They also didn't talk. Not about anything less superficial than how cute he thought the night nurse was and what the weather was going to be like the next day. When he caught Laura staring at his sister with tears in her eyes he pulled the deck of cards from his pocket and waved them in front of her, challenging her to a game of Texas Hold 'Em.

When Nikolas stormed into the room, he saw Ethan first, holding his hand of cards close to his chest and making exaggerated poker faces. Laura had told him earlier that he played poker like his sister, which caused a whole new set of jokes to emerge. Nikolas had to stop himself from pulling his half-brother's half-brother to his feet and throttling him for playing cards while their sister was lying helpless in the bed.

"Nikolas!" Laura shouted over the argument that had begun just by her oldest child entering the room.

He looked shocked, almost scared when he turned and realized that his mother was truly in the room. "You're here?" He asked quickly, pulling Laura into a hug and kissing her cheek. "They called you? What happened?"

"Lulu ran into Zacchara outside of Kelly's." Ethan announced, somewhat grateful that he was able to provide the information. Although he knew it wouldn't make a difference, he had had something to contribute to the conversation after all. "We've been trying to get in touch with you since eight last night, mate. You might want to try answering pages with the numbers 911 in front of them."

"Investors…" He said nervously, not too sure if his mother would believe him. "I was getting ready for bed when Alfred told me that there had been an accident." Then he finally noticed the bed. "Oh God."

Laura's hands were around her son's shoulders in an instant. "The prognosis is good." She told him first."They were able to retrieve all three bullets." She didn't want to tell him that his sister's lung had collapsed. Had they not been able to suture the hole she would most likely be telling her son that his sister was dead by now. "Dr. Hunter said that they want to keep her sedated for a few days to make sure her body starts repairing itself properly."

He watched his mother take a deep breath, and copied her, just to have something to do. "She's going to be all right?" He asked tentively.

"She's going to be just fine." Laura told him softly, pulling him into another hug. "I've sent Lucky home to get a few hours sleep, but if you'd like we can see if we can find another chair?"

She looked pointedly over at Ethan, who cocked a sideways grin at her and shrugged. "Here, take mine." He pushed the wooden contraption in Nikolas's direction. "I'll go flirt with the duty nurse and steal another one from the waiting room." When Laura's smile became genuine, his did too. He watched the blonde woman settle her oldest into the chair and then turned to leave.

He had no sooner made it to the door before it opened again. "Your sister's been in the hospital for ten hours already and I'm just hearing about this now?" Tracy shoved Ethan back into the room and almost slammed the door, her finger not leaving Ethan's chest. "With that useless lout of a father out roaming the planet I would have hoped that you would have had the decency to call."

"We didn't want to worry you unnecessarily." Ethan's smile was once again forced, and he looked over to Laura as if to ask for help.

"And one would think with my daughter's life on the line, that they would have had more important things on their mind." Tracy's back straightened and she turned to follow the voice. Laura didn't flinch as she addressed her ex-husband's new wife. "Hello Tracy."

Ethan suddenly forgotten, Tracy forced a smile onto her lips. Her step-family couldn't spare a moment to call her and inform her that Lulu had been shot three times in the chest, but they seemed to have managed to get Laura across the ocean. "Laura." She spit out. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough." She said shortly, she looked to Ethan and tried to smile reassuringly at him. She may have only known the man for a few short hours, but she had heard more than enough from her daughter about the way Tracy felt about him. "Why don't you go see about that other chair?" She pressed gently. After Ethan left the room she looked from her son to Tracy.

"Do they know how it happened yet?" Tracy barked instead of the snide comment about catatonia that she had at the tip of her tongue. She knew from personal experience that if and when Luke came back to town, he would undoubtedly take his ex-wife's side about any conflict they had.

Laura nodded. "Apparently Lesley Lu ran into John Zacchara earlier tonight and managed to get hit with a bullet that they think was meant for him." It wasn't the absolute truth, seeing as though Ethan told her that Sonny and his men still weren't sure that John was the target, but it was as close as she had. And the sooner she gave Tracy all of the answers she was looking for, the sooner the woman would leave. "She spent a little over seven hours in surgery and after a few days of sedated rest she'll be better than ever."

"You're not going to tell me any more than that, are you?" Tracy readjusted her purse on her arm as Laura crossed her arms against her chest.

"I hear Dr. Long is the doctor on rotation at the moment." She said in lieu of a 'no' and dropped her arms. "And Doctor Hunter will be back soon after lunch."

She smiled, cold and calculating and already plotting to send some of her retainers out to find her husband. "Then I thank you for appreciating my concern for your daughter." She spat out sarcastically, hitching her purse further up her arm and turning around.

"Thank you." Laura slammed the door behind Tracy, before turning around and looking at her daughter. "Sorry baby." She said softly as she moved back across the room.

Nikolas chuckled. "I don't think she noticed." He told his mother softly. When Laura laughed, he smiled. "She's most likely going to try to find Luke now."

"Somehow I don't think his appearance is going to help my attitude towards her." She said after a moment, scooting her chair closer to the bed and taking the hand that wasn't laden with tubes. "And she's going to be fine, so I don't see what he's going to have to say about it."

He nodded, knowing his mother was right. If Tracy managed to find his step-father the chances of the old man coming back to Port Charles were slim to none. Lulu had made it out of surgery, and his presence would only serve to add to the anxiety. Luke was a lot of things, but he wasn't stupid. He would probably wait until Lulu was released before he resurfaced, if only to make sure the tensions wouldn't affect her. Luke had never been a hands on father, but he did care about his children. And no matter what he said, the soft spot in his heart for his daughter was probably the biggest.

The door opened again, and Ethan stuck his head in before pushing it open the rest of the way to carry a chair in. "Milo's replacement just showed up." He told the group as he set the chair down. "He wants to know if we need anything."

"My daughter to wake up." Laura said sourly, her hand still tracing circles in Lulu's palm.

Ethan nodded and turned to the door again. "Breakfast it is." He tried to be chipper.

* * *

He dropped his keys on the sideboard and flicked off the outside hall light, hoping that he didn't wake his mother up, and that she was sleeping alone. Then again, with the leash that Sonny was keeping on John, chances were likely that his mother's lover wouldn't be seeing the outside of Graystone Manor for the next few days. He wasn't entirely sure how his mother was going to explain away the fact that he was taking her guest room while the rooms at Kelly's were being repainted, but when she insisted that he stay with her, he stopped worrying about it.

The couch gave under his weight, and he pulled his button down over his head t-shirt style and threw it in the direction of the coffee table. Olivia would yell at him for it later in the morning, but he wasn't into caring, especially after what he had seen that day.

"Dante?" The living room light flickered on and he shifted on the couch, dropping one leg so his mother would have a place to sit. "What time is it?"

"A little after six." He wasn't going to explain where he had been, more for the fact that she would most likely question the fact that after visiting Lulu in the hospital he had gone back to the crime scene and then he'd snuck into the police department and practically threatened Mac into letting him see the preliminary report that the officer on scene had filled out before going to interview John and Sonny. "You don't have work today; you should be catching up on sleep."

Olivia pulled her hair out of her eyes and cinched her robe closer to her body. Although she enjoyed the fact that her son had been able to stay with her for the past week, but she had to admit that the hours he kept while working for Sonny were hell. "Who's the parent and who's the child?" She asked with a frown. When she noticed his shirt on the table and his shoes kicked haphazardly between the door and the couch she ran a hand over his head. "What's happened?"

He wanted to lie to her. Sonny had kept him on his sons protection detail well into the night before, there was no reason why his mother couldn't think that that was all there was to it. But he knew John. And he knew the second Claudia left him alone he was going to call his ma, and Olivia would turn him over her knee if she found out that he knew and didn't tell her. "There was a shooting tonight." He noticed her hand still and she held in a breath. "He's fine." He assured her, trying his hardest not to be bitter. "Lulu Spencer managed to take the bullets for him."

The relief that John Zacchara was all right was shattered at the fact that he had been the target, and that someone else had paid the price. "Is she okay?" She asked cautiously, hoping that her son wouldn't have yet another death to blame on the Corinthos Organization.

"After seven hours of surgery." Dante pulled himself into a sitting position, propping his feet up on the coffee table. He allowed a small chuckle at the fact that his mother was too distracted to fuss at him about it. "Punctured lung and a cracked rib, and they're keeping her on a ventilator for a few days, but they say she'll be fine." He rubbed his hands over his eyes, trying to force the vision of his vivacious if not somewhat reluctant verbal dance partner lying cold in the hospital bed. Making a mental note to call Ronnie later in the day and push for him to keep him in the loop on the investigation, he dropped his hand onto his lap again.

"How's John taking this?" Olivia asked without thinking. They had been keeping their secret relationship going on stolen moments and hushed conversation and the fact that she couldn't call him to check on him was killing her.

Dante laughed, pulling himself off of the couch and reaching for his shirt. "You know what Ma?" he asked none too gently. "I really don't care." He kissed her on the top of the head and turned. "I'm going to bed." He announced, knowing that the likelihood of him actually sleeping was slim to nil. Turning he left her on the couch.

Although sparsely decorated, the guest room was nice. It reminded him a lot of his bedroom in his Brooklyn apartment if he thought about it too long. Then again he suspected that his mother had done that on purpose. He threw his shirt in the direction of the laundry hamper and toed off his socks, leaving them wherever they landed. He pulled his jeans off, not really aiming as his sent them flying to the corner. His Ma would remind him that she raised him better than that when she came to check on him later in the morning, but he was well versed in not listening to her. Dropping himself onto the bed in nothing but his boxer briefs, he laughed harshly when he realized his head was at the foot of the bed. With his foot he managed to kick a pillow down to his hands and dropped it over his head instead of putting it behind. He didn't feel like getting up to turn off the light.

_She was going to be fine._ He kept telling himself, trying to stop the thoughts on loop that said she was going to die. He'd seen her himself and he sweet talked one of the night nurses into telling him at least that the prognosis was good. He understood gunshot wounds and he knew that she wasn't in the clear until she was released, but so far she was in the clear and that was all that mattered. For a brief second he wondered what it would be like to be allowed in her room, waiting with her mother for news that she was going to wake up sooner rather than later. With a smile he drifted off to sleep.


End file.
